Posts filed under 'Quilting News'
Who Are The Best 182 Quilters In The World?
I”m looking for the top quilters on the planet? And by quilter I’m very limited in my request for information. For my devious purposes I am NOT interested in piecing or applique skills nor color or design, just the quilting part. Hand or machine. I’m interested in just THE STITCH.
Who does it the best? Who is inspired? Magical? Unbelievably talented? Professional or amateur. World famous, or unknown. Domestic machine or long arm. Left-handed or right-handed. I don’t care how they do it, they just have to be phenomenal quilters!
Why? I want to hit them up to quilt a top for the AAQI’s next traveling exhibit— ”Alzheimer’s Illustrated: From Heartbreak to Hope.”
I have (or soon will have) 182 quilt tops emblazened with the names of 10,000 people who have or had Alzheimer’s. Friends and family have written their names to honor and remember them. The people whose names appear on these quilts represent the 5.3 million Americans (26 million worldwide) who have Alzheimer’s. They simply deserve our best effort.
These incredibly talented quilters you’re going to tell me about would only have to quilt one top, six inches wide and about seven feet long. They can quilt it any way they want. They won’t even have to do the binding. And they’ve got lots of time in which to do it. This is a totally volunteer effort; nobody gets paid. They don’t get to keep the quilt either. The quilt they stitch on will travel around the country helping to raise awareness about Alzheimer’s, and then it will be auctioned or sold outright when the exhibit is retired. All profits from the sale will fund Alzheimer’s research.
So, who should we ask?
Write down the names of quilters I should ask in the comment section. Give me their full name and contact information if you know it. If somebody already “nominated” who you were going to suggest, you can second the motion. Everybody get’s their say. Don’t just stop with one name either; we’ve got 182 quilt tops!
To make this work, I need you to tell every single quilter you know to come to this page and leave a comment sharing who they feel should be asked to quilt a top for the AAQI. I want thousands of comments. The more comments, the harder it will be for these special quilters to say ‘no.’ (Sneaky, huh?)
There’s another way you can help, and that’s by collecting names of people who have/had Alzheimer’s. Click here. And if you want to create a quilt for “Alzheimer’s Illustrated: From Heartbreak To Hope,” click here.
Thank you for your help!
Pass it on!
Ami Simms
Get my blog delivered to you via email, or read it online.
(By the way, I Twitter too.)
104 comments August 6, 2009
Picture Play Quilts
I was storing some quilts downstairs and came across several of the quilts I made for Picture Play Quilts. I really like that book. In it I got to share what I learned as a second grade school teacher (my first career) while exercising my creativity with fabric (my second career). It was very satisfying to write.
I hadn’t really been a fan of “conversational” fabric before because it didn’t seem to GO with anything except more conversational fabric. When it finally dawned on me that quilts could be learning tools for kids, I was all over it.
I amassed quite a collection of novelty fabric as I designed more than a dozen easy-to-make quilts for the book. Now it’s time to thin the herd. (But hold that thought for a minute.)
The two dozen games I share in the book were games Mom taught me (and I played with Jennie) and language arts activities I did with my students in the classroom. The satisfaction of that book for me as an author was imagining quilters on their hands and knees, on the floor with their quilts and their kids or grandkids. It was the interaction and the play, facilitated by a quilt which is the very symbol of comfort, love, and home that felt so good.
Many readers have written requesting permission to photo-transfer the games onto the back of the quilts they make. Sure, go ahead. Others have made pockets on the front or back for photocopies of “game” pages 35-37. Great idea; be my guest. And yes, these make fantastic quilts for those children who are the beneficiaries of your guild’s service projects. Go for it. I think every quilter knows a child somewhere who would appreciate a Picture Play Quilt.
Let me make it really easy for you. From now until noon EDT on Thursday, July 2 you can buy as many copies of Picture Play Quilts as you want for 50% off. And, the first 50 people who order will get a chunk of conversational fabric from my stash. After you order yours, tell your friends. All of them. Blog, tweet, Facebook it. (Is Facebook a verb?)
Why the short window of opportunity? Debbie processes all the orders. Her vacation starts on Friday. If you order FAST she can get your book out before the holidays. If not, you get me. I stink at orders. I take forever and I make mistakes. Then I quit. If you don’t order before noon on Thursday the 50% discount will disappear and you’ll have to wait for Debbie to come back to work on July 13th.
Order here: http://www.amisimms.com/picplayquil.html
(July 2 Update)
The “Big” Sale Is Over!
(But The “Pretty Large” Sale Continues)
The good news is that I used to have way more conversational fabric than I do now. I was able to give away a Chunk O’ Fabric to more people than I first expected. Fifty? More. One hundred? Even more! Probably closer to 135. So, the first 135 people who ordered got a little gift from me.
The bad news is that we’ve never ever gotten so many orders in a single day! EVER!! (Actually, that’s more good news!) The bad part is that there is no way Debbie can possibly fill all the orders before she leaves today for vacation.
If you placed your order before noon on July 1st your order has already shipped or is about to. After that, not so much. I’ll start in again on Monday. Wish me luck! We’ll see if I can get them done before Debbie comes back on the 13th. Madison will help.
MORE GOOD NEWS!
I don’t want to disappoint anyone, so I am extending the sale. Not quite as good as the people who jumped on before the deadline (50% off + fabric for the first 135 orders), but pretty darn good (40% off). And don’t forget, I can put up to FOUR copies of Picture Play Quilts (or 4 other books/patterns or thin products) in the same priority mailer for a flat shipping rate of just $4.95. As long as you’re ordering, fill up the envelope and SAVE MONEY ON SHIPPING!
Sorry, no autographs during the sale or my head will explode.
9 comments June 30, 2009
Vintage Quilt Auction Ends Tonight!
Today is your last chance to bid on the 37 vintage quilts (translation: “old and used”) in an online auction that ends tonight. The Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative is holding a special mid-month auction to turn these quilts into research dollars. Can you help?
Bidding is easy, albeit slow. It’s a silent auction, and each bid is read by a real person. Her name is Diane. And I’d like her to get a boatload of bids on the last day of the auction which is today (Thursday, June 25th)! You’ve got until 10 p.m. tonight EDT time. (We have clocks on the web page so you’ll know exactly what time that is.) All profits from the auction will be used to fund Alzheimer’s research.
Here’s where you bid: www.alzquilts.org/viquac.html
If you already have enough quilts send this post to someone who could use one or two more. If you send it on, leave a comment on the blog with the number of people who you told about this auction. Let’s see how far afield this little announcement can get. Thanks for spreading the word!
2 comments June 25, 2009
Mopey Dog Disses New Web Page
Mom’s ignoring me. Something about some dumb web page rolling out. FindAQuiltTeacher.com. Who cares. If it was FindAYummyTreat.com I’d be interested. But it isn’t. So I’m not.
I’m not supposed to be on the couch, unless I’m invited up. I wasn’t. But I am anyway. I’m moping.
When Mom leaves on a teaching trip, first I retrieve her socks out of the suitcase and bring them to her. Very helpful; slightly damp. Then I mope. She tells me to be a good dog and leaves anyway.
Dad and I mope together.
Mom says the new web site will help teachers and shops and quilt guilds get together better. Something about everything in once place, printing off information for a 3-ring binder. Don’t my toes look nice? Mom trims my toe hairs a lot. And my nails. And she brushes me real good. Except when she’s working on dumb web pages. She’s still typing. Who needs quilt teachers anyway?! I think they should all stay home with their dogs.
I bark in my sleep. You can do it; it’s fun. Close your jowls really tight and bark in a high pitch yelp. See your cheeks puff out. Sounds like a helium bark. I sometimes run when I sleep. Mom says my paws twitch. Mom jiggles me to wake me up if I do that at night ’cause it wakes up Dad.
Mom’s still typing. She says lots of teachers are starting to sign up to be on the page and she has to get the part ready for the quilt guilds and shops to join too. She says that will be tomorrow. Big deal. I just fetched her glove. She wasn’t impressed. She couldn’t type if she wore the glove. Sigh. Mope.
I usually lay at Mom’s feet under her desk. If I roll just right I can unplug her keyboard and then
34 comments February 4, 2009
I Hate Houston!
I am particularly annoyed with Houston. I’ve never been there, but I’ve had enough of it. It’s all I’ve been hearing about for weeks. No, make that months. Some dumb quilt show.
All the planning. All the packing. Suitcases everywhere. Mom isn’t paying any attention to me at all and then she’s going to leave me.
It’s just going to be me and Dad while she’s living it up in HOUSTON. She gets to work all day long at some place called The George Brown. Whoever that is. I bet if George Brown had a dog, he’d stay home with it.
Mom tells everybody she’s going to be in “Row Q.” I don’t know what that is either, but I bet she can’t even find it without me. And she sounds so happy about going! Can dogs pout? I’m pouting.
I want to go to Houston too.
Get my Mom’s blog delivered to you via email, or read it online.
15 comments October 27, 2008
1,000 Quilts
It’s nothing short of amazing: a thousand quilts! I have held the work of your hearts in my hands, felt the compassion in the hills and valleys of your quilting stitches, and am humbled beyond measure that you have given your time and energy to a project, just because I asked.
A thousand Priority: Alzheimer’s Quilts are priced, tagged, bagged, and on their way to the International Quilt Festival where the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative will offer them for sale. They include every kind of quilt imaginable, in every taste, style, technique, and color—all small enough to fit into a flat cardboard priority mailer. “Priority Quilts.”
Yes, these quilts are small, just 9″ x 12″. But don’t let their small size fool you. In Houston, with your help, they will bring us tens of thousands of dollars closer to a cure. Come and see them. Help us sell them all!
Yes, there are quilts made by “big name” quilters. And plenty made by quilters whose names you’ve never heard of. But the names that are the most important are not the names of the quiltmakers, they are the names YOU will write on 2″ x 6″ patches of purple fabric when you come and see the quilts. They are the names of people you know who have/had Alzheimer’s and we will honor them by wearing the patches in Houston. And people will ask, and we will share, and more people will understand why quilts not much larger than a piece of paper, made by people you never heard of, are important.
We have purple patches here for you, markers too. We have some patches with names already on them if you are lucky enough not to have a name to write.
Keep your purple patch or bring them back to the booth on Sunday afternoon. Your patch will be used in a Ceremony of Remembrance or stitched into a quilt like the one shown here.
Please share this message with as many people as you can. The Alzheimer’s Art Quilt initiative will be in booth 5726, Row R. All profit funds Alzheimer’s research.
Thank you!
Ami Simms
6 comments October 25, 2008
I Like A Machine That Does EVERYTHING!
I love sewing machines. They’re the ultimate gadget as far as I’m concerned. And they keep coming up with such great advances like needle down, knee lift, stitch regulators, embroidery modules, and bobbins that chirp when you run out of thread. And the FEET? What about the feet? I’ve got more specialty feet for my Bernina than I have shoes. I love it! Name the task and I’ve got the foot! Or the attachment!
Now here’s a Kenmore (pictured above) that has a feature that is apparently so popular that it’s built right in! Norma Sterbenze was cleaning out boxes in the basement when she found the original advertisement for it (some 20 years ago) in the Kansas City Star. Click on the photo and look at the small print on the left hand side below the SEARS and above the SAVE $40.
I’m just glad it’s built in because I certainly wouldn’t pay extra for it!
What’s the best feature on YOUR sewing machine? Take the poll!
24 comments October 24, 2008
inklingo Handbook and AAQI, pages 81-83
Linda Franz and Monkey have a new inklingo Handbook and I’m delighted to share that the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative and the Priority: Alzheimer’s Quilt project was the inspiration for the quilts on pages 81 through 83.
inklingo is a revolutionary system for printing sewing and cutting lines on the wrong side of fabric for piecing by hand or machine.
Lots of other good ideas inside too.
3 comments October 17, 2008
Quilts, Quilts, and MORE QUILTS!
All these packages, except the one on top, are from quilters. I can tell just by looking at them. They came in yesterday’s mail and they’re all Priority: Alzheimer’s Quilts for International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas, October 29-November 2.
The Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative has been given a TRIPLE booth (#5726-5728-5730) by show organizer Karey Bresenhan. We’re right behind the Silver Star Salute quilts in aisle “R.” Brooke and John Flynn are hosting our appearance with a monetary gift to help defray the cost of the booth.
My goal has been to bring 1,000 quilts to Houston! (And of course sell them all!) Have you registered YOUR quilt yet?
Quilting luminaries including Sue Nickels, Pat Holly, Susan Cleveland, Jackie Robinson, Hollis Chatelain, Karen Kay Buckley, Robbi Eklow, Jenny Raymond, and Darlene Christopherson will be on hand throughout the show to bring quilts off the wall and into your hands. Prices for all budgets.
We’ve gotten literally THOUSANDS of 2″ x 6″ purple patches already with promises of more on the way so everyone who comes by the AAQI booth can take a patch to wear honoring someone who has/had Alzheimer’s. (If you’re coming, bring more! We could also use more flyers to distribute too.)
That package on the top of the mail pile? Those are the T-shirts I ordered from CafePress.com. Two have images of very special quilts on them, and one has the AAQI logo. I’m going to wear them in Houston. If you’re coming to Quilt Festival please do the same. And yes, if I see you with an AAQI shirt on, watch out, because I’m gonna hug the stuffin’ out of you!
Can’t make to Houston but want to help by purchasing a quilt? You’ve got until 10pm EST on the 10th to bid on an auction quilt, but you can buy a post card sized quilt right now.
1 comment October 9, 2008
Bowling Workshop A Screaming Success
Jane’s getting started in the photo to the left, coiling the bottom of her batik fabric bowl in yesterday’s workshop in my @Home Classroom.
I wish I had gotten the camera out while we were using our PowerWrappers. There was clothesline all over the floor, strips of fabric on every surface, and half a dozen immobile quilters “wearing” what looked like bows (as in bows and arrows). We were quite a sight.
This was my first workshop using Susan Breier’s book It’s a Wrap and the resulting fabric bowls came out terrific. (See the past blogs: Bowled Over and I’ve Been Bowling Again.)
Bernadeine is building the walls of her bowl in the picture over here to the right. She also PowerWrapped, but instead of going “random” or using just one fabric, she alternated two fabrics which created stunninng bold stripes.
Everyone did a fabulous job! Thank you for coming!
Shown below are Nancy’s bowl made from white “confetti” fabric, Betsy’s “Halloween batik medley,” and Karolyn’s hunter green speckled bowl.
Workshops in my @Home Classroom are over for the year, but they will resume again in 2009. Stay tuned.
Betsy Stephanic writes: “Here’s the oval bowl I made today (the day after the workshop). I squished the long sides a bit to get a curve in the top edge, and I wove in two strips of the dark fabric on the long sides to see what would happen. Not as much contrast as I expected, but at least it’s visible! I meant to add some at the ends, too, but I got carried away and forgot until it was too late. 
Thanks for a great class yesterday. I really enjoyed it. ~~Betsy Stephanic
Get my blog delivered to you via email, or read it online.
If you’ve already got the book, pop $2 in the mail with your email address and I’ll email the two pages of instructions to you. Here’s the address:
Bias Cutting & PowerWrapper Instructions
Mallery Press
4206 Sheraton Dr.
Flint, MI 48532.
7 comments October 5, 2008
